


Something not quite right

by They_Call_Him_Rat_Boy



Category: Among Us (Video Game)
Genre: Aliens, Asphyxiation, Assassination, Attempted Murder, Blood, Blood and Gore, Blood and Injury, Body Horror, Cannibalism, Deception, Dismemberment, False Accusations, Fire, Gore, Graphic Description, Graphic Description of Corpses, Insanity, Lies, Murder, Murder Mystery, Obsession, Outer Space, Science, Science Fiction, Spaceships, Stabbing, Strangulation
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-10-15
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:01:10
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 13
Words: 12,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26731777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/They_Call_Him_Rat_Boy/pseuds/They_Call_Him_Rat_Boy
Summary: A small crew, experts in their respective fields spend their days working away at their usual tasks. All seems well, morale is high, relations between the crew-mates is as good as it's ever been. That is, until a body is discovered, horribly disfigured and dismembered. suspicions rise, tensions run higher, and the crew slowly starts to turn on each other as paranoia runs rampant.
Comments: 9
Kudos: 49





	1. Introductions..

It had been a few months since the Skeld’s departure, starting its journey. The idea of voyaging deep into the reaches of space, to explore the vastness of the cosmos was one that always allured humanity, one that always acted as a spectacle of something they wished to achieve, but they never took into the risks that could accompany that. The Skeld would be the first ship to make this sort of trek, so everything, in reality, was a risk. There was no control to base this mission on, they had no idea what sort of events would transpire, what infinite number of possibilities would occur. And so to prep for the worst, they picked out the most capable crew they could muster. 

A male voice came on from the ship’s speakers, it was that of Miguel, the Skeld’s security and maintenance officer. He had taken a sort of authoritative role in the coming weeks, not that anyone really seemed to mind. He was good at his job, he kept track of everyone, and where they were and should be. What they should be doing, and the like. He was rather friendly, not too outgoing, but he seemed to get along well with everyone nonetheless. His calm, relaxed demeanor was clear in his voice, as he called everyone to the Canteen, specifying that there was no real rush before hanging up on coms. Everyone put what they were doing aside, and one by one made their way into the Cafeteria to attend this quick little check in that Miguel had called. 

First, was Suki. She was rather easy to spot out in a crowd, her vibrant vermilion spacesuit was only matched by her hair, dyed the same color. She practically skipped into the Canteen, and sat herself down around the large, rounded, central table that had been designated for meetings. Crossing her legs and resting her arms on the table’s surface, her energetic personality keeping her from sitting still. Suki was the Skeld’s botanist, a certified professional when it came to anything flora related. She could always be found cooped up in the O2 plant, tending to her succulents and cacti, as well as checking in on the room’s systems while she was there. Her eyes darted to the other entrances of the room, waiting excitedly and expectantly for her crewmates to enter. 

Next, was Bile. A stark contrast to the vibrant and excitable Suki. He was quiet, reserved, and didn’t speak up unless he needed to. His voice was dull, monotone at most, his expressions lackluster. The strangest part about him was that he refused to ever take off the helmet to his suit, ever. The rest of the crew had grown used to it, projecting their own expressions onto him as they often saw the reflections of their own faces on his clouded black visor. No one really knew much about him, he was a generic social outcast, and not one much for conversation, but he was part of their odd little family, whether he wanted to or not. Bile worked in the Skeld’s shield generator room, making sure that the ship’s defensive matrix was functional at all times, lest they come into contact with an asteroid swarm. He shambled over to the center table, giving a tired wave to Suki, who beamed at him in response, before slumping down in his chair, his arms slack at his side, posture terrible. 

If one eccentric crewmate wasn't enough, why not two? Blizz trotted in, a full smile quickly curving onto her face as she quickened her pace, practically jumping into the seat right next to Suki. The two were as close as close could be, sharing a rather excitable and energetic personality, the two became great friends almost immediately. Blizz was in charge of testing data samples and running downloads across the ship, which she was rather good at. Her bright yellow suit could be seen from almost anywhere due to how vibrantly colored it was, and contrasted nicely with the black, knit beanie she wore over her messy brown curls of hair that draped down past her shoulders. She worked closely with Doc in medbay, often testing samples for him, and relaying her findings or other information that might be of note, overall, she was rather helpful to the whole of the crew, and they all made sure to let her know of that. She took pride in her work, and that was enough for her. 

The next few Crewmates made their entrances next. First was Doc, dawning a jet black spacesuit, a pair of goggles resting upon a mess of dirty blonde hair. As his name would have suggested, Doc was incharge of medbay. He kept track of the health and wellbeing of all of his fellow crewmates, treating any small cuts or burns that they might endure during the day to day aboard the Skeld. He seated himself next to Bile, giving a small nod to his quiet crewmate, and a wave to the others. The two got along rather well, Doc and Bile. Doc didn’t prompt him with much, and Bile stayed quiet, only answering when absolutely necessary. Doc was a wisecrack, having a sarcastic yet relatable sense of humor that everyone seemed to enjoy.

The next was Heather, seating herself next to Doc. Heather was rather soft spoken, but that didn’t stop her from being fiercely independent. Her job among the Skeld was one of, if not the hardest of the bunch, being tending to the ship’s engines, and nuclear reactor. It was an attention heavy task, and she was spending almost all of her time locked in the reactor room, keeping everything in top shape. No one initially took her as the engineering type, seeing as how soft and sweet she came off, but now she was regarded as one of the most respected members of the crew. She gave a cute smile to the others, he hands folded neatly in her lap, legs gently kicking under the table. 

Penny was the next to enter the room, her large, rounded glasses threatening to slip off of her small button nose. Her amber hair was tied neatly in two behind her neck, the color of which blending nicely with the bright orange of her suit. Penny was quiet, not meek by any means, just quiet. You would have to lean in a little closer and really concentrate to hear what she was saying most of the time, not that any of that was a bad thing. She worked alongside Miguel in the Admin’s lounge most of the time, whenever he wasn’t attending to security, that is. Held close to her chest was a tablet that she usually used to run analytics of the ship, check on the status of her fellow crewmates, and other small checkups on the ship’s systems. She sat herself down along with the rest, giving a small smile to the others, which was reciprocated in kind.

Sampson and Troy were next, colored green and purple respectively. The two got along rather well, and were chatting up a storm as always. Sampson was more than just meek and timid, he was honestly a bit of a nervous wreck, he was often anxious and shaky, uncomfortable with speaking up in the group, and was often the butt of a joke among the crew. Despite all this however, Sampson was a marvel of electrical engineering, working tirelessly in the ship’s breaker room, managing the power grid and the works, he was great at his job, and was recognized as such, earning respect from his crewmates despite their teasing. However at the base of all of it, he was still an anxiety ridden individual, often trying to hide behind his small, half rimmed glasses to no avail. 

Troy recognized Sampson’s anxiety early on, and made it his goal to stick out for him. Troy tried to be a charmer, dubbing himself as a self proclaimed ‘Cool Guy’, and came off as much on a normal basis, even if it was slightly overbearing at times. He was rather outgoing, jumping to do whatever he could for the sake of ‘trying something new’ as he would often say. He was often getting himself into some sort of trouble because of this, messing around in the breaker room unsupervised, or snooping around in the medbay looking for something to do, though he was harmless overall. Sampson and Troy were practically inseparable at this point, the duo having formed an unlikely friendship between a shy, anxious engineer, and an outgoing, overconfident weapons expert. 

Everyone was seated now, leaving all but one chair left open between Penny and Doc, saving a seat for Miguel as he entered the room. Miguel had a rather wide range when it came to his tasks amongst the crew. His time was often split between overseeing everyone’s activities in the Admin’s lounge, or monitoring the ship inside of Security. The PA system was his domain, making small announcements to the crew, calling meetings, or just acting as an alarm clock in the early mornings to get everyone to their stations. His suit was a clean, neat white, matched in color by a white and gold admirals cap resting over his messy black curls. A lazy smile on his face as he entered the Canteen, seating himself down in the last available chair. He greeted everyone, making a bit of small talk amongst the crew, before calling a meeting to session…


	2. The Daily Grind..

“A-are you sure you know what you’re doing..?”  
Sampson asked a tad shakily, looking over Troy’s shoulder as he messed around with a panel of wiring up against the wall. “Of course I do! ...I think-” Troy chirped back, not bothering to turn around, his hands tangled in a mess of copper wiring. The bright colors of each forming a tangled web that he was having trouble navigating, not that he would admit that, of course.“I-i don't know if you should be doing this… Doc might get mad if you mess something up..” Sampson said meekly

“It’ll be fine! I’ve watched you do this dozens of times.” Troy tried to reassure his crew-mate, but his words fell on deaf ears as the lights in the breaker room sparked and dimmed, Sampson jumped and flinched in response “g-give me that..!” he stammered, shoving Troy out of the way to quickly fix the wiring mishap, working his hands in the panel for a short minute before the lights came back on. Sampson sighed, relieved, before turning to glare daggers at Troy. “Whoops..?” Troy said with a half smile, giving a bit of a shrug to try and defuse a bit. Sampson shook his head, letting out a frustrated grumble

“Why do I even let you in here… you’re going to get us in trouble..!”  
He vented his frustrations, stomping his foot. “Hey, hey, i'll take full responsibility if something happens-” Troy’s sentiment was cut short as the digital watch on his suit beeped and buzzed, drawing the attention of both of them. “Oh, Shoot! I have to get to weapons, Bile is going to kill me..!” Troy stammered out, quickly grabbing his helmet from the floor. “I’ll be back later, sorry again!-” Troy’s voice died out as he ran out of the breaker room, quickly pacing over to the weapons bay. Sampson sighed and shook his head once more, before turning back to the exposed wiring. “He’s such a troublemaker, why do I bother..” he said, failing to hide a slight smile as he slid the cover back over the open panel..

* * *

“How long until those samples are ready?”  
Doc’s voice called out from across the medbay, his face buried in papers and reports. His question was answered by Blizz’s voice, her tone a little bitter, as it usually was towards the doctor. “About a minute, if you really need to know..” She turned to face him, turning away from the desk she had been working at, littered messily with papers that had been shoved to the edges, and a series of vials neatly organized at the center. The vials were neatly labeled with the names and blood types of the other members of the crew, the samples having been carefully stored for the crew’s bi-monthly blood test. It was routine at this point

“Of course I need to know, that’s why I asked!”  
Doc muttered back, exaggerating an eye-roll. The two were sour to each other, not hostile or hateful, just sour. Doc scribbled down onto a loose pad of paper in shorthand. The medbay was one of the larger rooms on the ship, but with only two people there at a time, it felt rather empty. The walls were lined with two rows of cots spaced evenly apart, medical equipment stored inside cupboards and cabinets mounted onto the walls.

“Yeah, and that’s why I answered!”  
Came a tart retort from Blizz, turning around in her stool, folding her arms across her chest. Doc had been with his nose buried in his papers and reports all day, and she was starting to consider sneaking off for the day. Maybe running off to the Oxygen plant to visit Suki, maybe head off to admin to chat up with Penny and Miguel, or maybe she could snoop around and see whatever the fuck Bile did in his spare time. Her daydreaming was cut short however, as Doc spoke up once more.

“Ahem? Samples, please.”  
He said, finally turning to her. Blizz was brought back to reality, and swiftly stood up from her stool. She took the tray of vials and samples carefully in her hands, bringing them over to the doctor and sliding them onto the desk before him.  
“Thank you, Blizz..” he nodded to her, earning a small smile from his lab assistant. She skipped back over to her stoll, seating herself down and swiveling around on it a little. Maybe things didn’t have to be so sour all the time...

* * *

Miguel sat in the security office, spinning idly in his recliner chair behind the terminal. He pursed his lips, blowing a few messy strands of hair off his brow, his hat resting low over his eyes, arms folded behind his head. His demeanor was lazy as usual, watching the monitors idly, the cameras mounted in the corners of each room and hallway of the ship recording away. The sound of the security room’s heavy metal door sliding open caused Miguel to jump a little, quickly sitting up straight, trying to make himself seem busy instead of acting like a bit of a slacker. 

“Uh, Sir..?” Penny’s quiet voice called out, as she leaned in through the doorway, her tablet held close to her stomach. “The ship diagnosis is all finished, we had a bit of a hiccup in the breaker room earlier, but everything seems fine..” Miguel smiled, swiveling around in his chair to face her. “Perfect!” he clapped his hands together, standing up and taking a step closer to his crew-mate “Anything else I should know?”. Now standing, Miguel was a fair deal taller than her, not too imposing, but there was a clear difference in height. “Uhm, no. That’s all..” she said, glancing up at him, thumbing the corners of the tablet in her hands.

“Ah, well thank you regardless, Penelope.” Miguel nodded, earning a warm smile from her. Everyone always called her Penny, so it was a nice change of pace to be called by her full name. “I’ll be going now, sir..” she nodded to him, giving a small wave before ducking away from the door. Miguel smiled to himself, before resuming his usual slacking off. Arms behind his head, legs crossed and resting up on top of the terminal once more. Penny had only been in the room for a moment, but she could tell almost immediately that he had been lazing about, giggling softly to herself. 


	3. Disturbance.

Suki hummed whistily, smiling to herself as she stepped around through the oxygen plant, watering can in hand. She had spent the better half of an hour tending to her plants, checking up on them, bringing them fertilizer, adjusting the room’s sun lamps, and was now occupying herself with watering them. She finished tending to the room’s flora, setting the watering can down on the desk in the room, and sitting back down in her chair. The oxygen plant was a rather small room, and it was a relatively stress free job, so Suki could get away with relaxing with her plants for the better part of the day. There wasn’t much to do when it came to managing her tasks: come in, check the room’s readings, make any small adjustments needed, and done. 

She had been lounging around for the past hour or two, having done her tasks for the day, when she heard an odd sound from the adjacent room, almost like a muffled metallic slam. Suki rose from her seat, scratching the back of her head a little as she pondered the origin of the sound. She strode out of the O2 plant, ducking her head through the doorframe to look around a bit. Nothing really struck her as odd about this, perhaps the doors had just closed a tad louder than usual. However as she walked towards the rightmost door, a strange realization dawned on her, the door was sealed shut. The locks on the sides bolted shut. 

“That’s...weird..”   
She muttered to herself, hand on the door as she tried the lock once mores. No dice, it was sealed shut. She turned around, going to the opposite end of the hallway only to be met with the same result, both of the doors had been locked up tight. She huffed and crossed her arms, trying to think of a logical explanation to all of it. It must be a small hiccup in electrical, yes that must be it. The doors of the ship were hardwired to seal themselves if an onship error were to occur, oxygen preservation and the like, something small must have happened to cause it to shut. But as she let her thoughts run rampant with explanations for the incident, she failed to notice the slight rusty creaking coming from behind her.   
What finally caught her attention was the sound of footsteps behind her, and as she turned around she saw someone standing behind her, at the opposite end of the room.   
“Ah, Miguel..!” she initially chirped up, though as she got a better look at the individual, something didn’t seem right. They were wearing a white spacesuit, which was what had led Suki to mistake them for the ship’s security officer, but the design of the suit seemed older than that of her crewmates, more worn. The elbows and knees were scuffed up, the white had been dirtied with smudges. On top of that, the individual was wearing the suit’s helmet along with it, the visor clouding over their face, instead of Miguel’s signature hat, so that weighed him out.

“Bile..?” she asked, uneasily. But it couldn’t have been, their posture was too neat, back straight, broader shoulders, though it was hard to tell with the overly baggy suit. She took a step back, her back pressing against the sealed door behind her. She pouted and crossed her arms, “This isn’t that funny, you know..” she said in sour taste, trying to play off her nervousness as annoyance, though that facade faded rather quickly as the stranger took another step closer, then another. Suki slowly began to panic, back right up against the door. “K-knock it off..” she stammered out, and as the figure took another step, she finally let go of her stoic mask. She started slamming her fist hard against the door, screaming for someone to open it, panic heavy in her voice. Her eyes were locked to the stranger the whole time, which only made things worse as she watched them start to brandish a knife. 

“W-wait wait, what are you-” her panicked stammering was cut off, as the figure rushed at her, lunging forward without warning. Suki screamed once more, her heels digging into the floor, eyes bolting shut as the stranger lunged to attack her, lurching their right arm forward, knife in tow. Suki aimlessly reached out with both hands, somehow catching the figure’s wrist in her hands. Her eyes shot open as she did, caught off guard by her own feat, though her stomach soon dropped, this stranger was barely struggling to move his arm, even with both of her hands on it, just how strong were they? 

She grunted, sweat beating down her brow as she struggled to hold their arm at bay, the knife dangerously close to her stomach. Her gaze quickly switched between the strangers arm and face,not sure where to look. She grit her teeth, still struggling, but she felt her fear sink in once more as the stranger grabbed her wrist with their spare hand. Suki held as tight as she could, but as the stranger started to dig their fingers into her wrist, she was forced to let go with a yelp. She watched in horror as the figure wrenched their arm back once more, before swinging in broad with the blade. 

Suki threw her hands up to shield her face, forcing her eyes shut once more. She felt the material around her arm give and tear under the blade, and let out a visceral scream as the blade dug hot into her flesh, the knife cut deep into her arm, and she winced, screeching painfully. The stranger swung the knife wildly, each swing in rapid succession to the next. And each time they did, made another deep cut into her. Suki felt as though her arm were being mauled by a rabid dog, the knife cutting deep lacerations into her forearm, she felt her skin being ripped and torn from the bone, chunks of flesh severing wildly, she felt the stranger’s blade cut deep, deep enough to chip bone, and she let out another gut wrenching scream in response. She thought herself for dead, she knew it, she was either going to be left here to bleed out, or cut to ribbons by a madman. Her eyes felt heavy as she slowly gave up, but the sound of banging on the opposite side of the door brought Suki out of her lull. She watched as the stranger’s head perked up, hearing it as well. 

They glanced down at her again, before stepping back. Their previously dingy white suit was now plastered red with blood, Suki’s eyes felt faded as she watched the stranger slink away, prying open the air vent at the opposite end of the room. They forced themselves into the vent, their arms seemingly dislocating to fit their broader shoulders into the small gap, the stranger disappearing, the vent slamming shut. Suki felt lightheaded, her arm cut to shreds, cuts burning. She stared up, everything becoming a blur, the last thing she saw was the door behind her being pried open with metal rebar, Miguel and Heather forcing their way into the room, looking down at her with a lock of shock and horror, before Suki blacked out.


	4. Awake..

Suki’s eyes shot open, darting around to try and find her bearings. She was forced to wince as the lights from above her beamed directly into her face. She was in the medbay, lying across one of the medical cots in the room. She tried to sit up, but winced at the attempt, letting out a pained groan. She felt tired, she was thirsty, her skin felt paled. She glanced down at her arm, the confusion of her situation finally fading away as she recalled what had last transpired. Her left arm had been tightly bound in bandages and gauss, but she could still see the dried blood having bled through the bindings. 

Suki glanced around, the medbay was empty, not even the doctor was present. Fear sat in a pit in her stomach, she felt vulnerable, like at any second she could be attacked again by the stranger once more. She felt sick, she needed to vomit, choking it down as she sat up with another wince. She glanced to the door, still open, and she could faintly hear the sounds of an argument coming from the cafeteria. She didn’t know who was talking, but she could tell it was about her. 

Gritting her teeth, Suki reached out with her left arm, thankfully undamaged, and grasped at the IV pole leaned at her bedside. Standing up with a pained gasp, she leaned hard against it, using it as a bit of a brace as she walked herself agonizingly slowly towards the door, each step feeling like a feat all in itself. She wheeled the IV to the door with her, leaning herself against the doorframe, she was finally able to hear a bit more of the commotion coming from the canteen. 

“Why didn’t you do anything?! You’re in security for a reason!” she heard Doc’s accusing tone, guessing that it must have been directed at Miguel based on context.   
“You think I didn’t?! The camera’s went down, I had to reboot the system! I ran over as soon as they went back on, ask Heather!”. There was a moment of silence, before she heard the security officer speak up once again.   
“Everyone was accounted for, our best bet is to assume we have a stowaway..”   
“Stowaway?! We’ve been here for five months! Do you think we wouldn’t notice someone sneaking around our ship for that long?!”, The Doctor cut in once more.  
“All i’m saying is that it’s a possibility, everyone was at their stations, it couldn’t have been one of us..” Miguel spoke up.  
“What if it was you, huh?! It seems awfully convenient that cameras went down as soon as this happened!” the Doctor retorted. 

Suki had limped and staggered weakly to the canteen doors, leaning in the doorframe to listen in better.  
“T-that’s not true, I was with Miguel the entire time..!” Penny had cut in, surprisingly to some of the crew. “H-he’s right, the cameras cut out for a minute or two… I-it might’ve been a bug, o-or..”   
“Or, what?” the doctor asked, his tone softening just slightly.   
“O-or, it might’ve been sabotaged..”. Everyone was silent, no one knew what to say in response to the idea that not only was there a maniac stowed on board the Skeld, but they had the ability to take out some of the ship’s primary systems. 

Suki listened in, the pit in her stomach ever present, distracted by her rampant inner thoughts, she stumbled a bit, loudly banging the IV stand against the doorframe. Everyone immediately glanced over towards her, already on edge from paranoia. Everyone looked surprised to see her, especially Blizz, who jumped from her seat, running towards her friend immediately upon seeing her.   
“W-what are you doing up?? You need rest..!” Blizz stood infront of her, looking her up and down, trying not to stare too much at her bound up arm.  
“I-I heard everyone talking a-and..” Suki tried to stammer out, she felt sick seeing her friend so distraught, so torn up. Blizz hadn't said anything, but the look on her face spoke leagues louder than anything she could've said.   
“No, c’mon. Bed, now!” Blizz pouted, her shortness a front to mask the immense worry she felt for her friend. She carefully took Suki by the arm, leading her back towards the medbay without another word. Everyone was silent for a moment, still taking everything in, before the Doctor spoke up again.   
“I...best go too, I should check on her arm and such..” Doc said, looking for an excuse to duck out from the entire conversation. Miguel sighed, pinching his bridge between his brow in frustration.   
“Fine, but we’re coming back to this later. This could get much worse very quickly if we aren’t careful..” Miguel’s words acted as a grim reminder of the looming threat of the crew, everyone fell silent, letting the weight of the situation really sink in.   
“...Verywell” the Doctor said, and with that, he was off..


	5. Desperation.

A few days had passed since the incident, and tensions had remained just as high. Suki was bedridden, confined to the med-bay with Doc and Blizz waiting on her hand and foot. But despite having her two crewmates constantly at her side, she still didn’t feel safe. She had become paranoid, more so than the rest of the crew, feeling as though her life was at stake throughout every second of the day. What if the stranger came back to finish the job while she was bedridden, what if they showed up in the middle of the night, and carved her open with their blade. What if they cut her down the middle, making her watch and writhe as they tugged at her entrails one by one, dicing them to bits, all while she laid there and took it, unable to fight back. Suki had been spending nights completely restless, fearing that she would be killed the minute she closed her eyes.

Everyone else had tried to return to the standard autonomy of their daily grind, much to no avail. Doc and Miguel were often at odds with each other, Doc accused the security officer of being too lax, too lenient with his responsibilities, and that the situation as a whole could have been easily avoidable. All the while Miguel continued to defend himself, claiming that there was nothing that he could do, and that he did the best to his abilities to handle the situation. Everyone else tried to mind their business, trying not to take a side. 

* * *

“Shouldn’t you be in weapons..?” Sampson asked, busy reading over the ship’s recorded energy consumption, tablet in hand to jot down his notes.   
“I’m fine, there’s nothing to do there anyways. Besides, with everything that’s been going on, it might be better to be in a pair!” Troy responded, optimistic as ever despite the circumstances,   
“Yeah, but if you’re constantly abandoning your post, wouldn’t it look….suspicious..?” Sampson looked over his shoulder to ask this, earning a bit of a grin from Troy.   
“Nah, see? Everyone can see that i’m just hanging out here.” Troy gestured to the surveillance camera in the corner of the room. The small, flashing red light indicating that Miguel was at his post.   
“Nothing suspicious in the least..” he chimed, giving a small wave to the camera.   
“Yeah, I-i guess..” Sampson shrugged. Troy was right, but he didn’t want to admit that, lest it go to his head. 

The two chatted amongst themselves for a bit, their topics of conversation always seeming to wrap it’s way back to the incident from the days prior. But Troy always had a way to change topics, whether it be a cocky remark, or a dumb joke. Troy wasn’t dumb, he knew that the stress of the situation would get to Sampson, making him even more of an anxious wreck, so he did his best to distract from it. As the hours passed, Troy eventually cut into their conversation. 

“I think I’ve been lounging around for too long, I don’t want Doc on my ass..” He sighed.  
Sampson nodded in response, turning around to face him.   
“Yeah, you should probably head back..” Sampson held the tablet a little closer to his chest, it would be a lie to say he wasn’t afraid of being by himself. But he saw himself as an unlikely target, being safe in the breaker room. Troy bid him farewell, heading off to weapons to keep up with his tasks, leaving Sampson by himself. 

Sampson tried to distract himself from the thought of being by himself, glancing over to the camera more than a few times, not taking into account the blindspot right in the corner of the room. As Sampson moved onto his last panel that needed work done, he found himself edging into the corner of the breaker room, grunting a little as he pried the metal sheet from the wall. He reached down to set it on the floor, when A slight gleam caught his eye. As he leaned in closer to examine it, he realized it was the covering to the room’s air vent, it had been moved just slightly, a tad askew over the opening. He shrugged it off, convincing himself that he must have accidentally kicked it while working. 

Sampson reached down once more, moving to fix the covering himself. But as he reached down, he was caught off guard as a hand lurched out from the vent. Sampson tried to jump back a bit, but the hand had caught him by the wrist, roughly tugging him down towards the vent. Fear swelled in his stomach, as his gaze lingered on the hand gripping him. It was gloved in a dirty white suit, stained red with dried blood. Sampson tried to scream, he tried to move, he tried to do anything, but was paralyzed by fear. The arm tugged harder, pulling him down off of his feet, slamming him down to the floor. He winced as he fell, struggling as the hand pulled him closer and closer, his hand practically in the vent at this point. Sampson finally convinced his body to move, reaching out and grabbing at a bit of metal railing built into the wall, gripping onto it as tight as he could, desperately trying to hold on. He grit his teeth, grunting as he tried to pull himself to his feet to no avail. The stranger pulled harder, and Sampson felt as if his arm was about to be torn off. He gave one last tug on the railing, desperately trying to break free, only to watch in horror as the material of his space suit slipped against the metal, his grip being broken as he was quickly dragged into the vent. He tried to scream as his body was contorted, violently stuffed into the tight metal shaft, but he couldn’t make a sound. He thrashed around, and then there was silence. No struggle, no conflict, nothing. A freshly stained hand reached up, slowly dragging the cover back onto the vent, before disappearing. 


	6. Attentive..

The next day started as any other, Miguel came onto the ship’s intercoms, notifying everyone of the tasks that needed to be done for the day. Doc rose from his cot, rubbing his eyes. The crew cabins weren’t luxury by any means, small single rooms, with enough room for a bed, and maybe a desk. Doc let out a drawn out yawn, sitting up in bed. He sat in bed, idling for a moment before forcing himself to get up. He got himself dressed, groggily going through the motions of the day. He sat himself at his desk for a moment, quickly sweeping his gaze over the contents resting atop it, the same things he had seen almost every day. 

The desk wasn’t too cluttered, rather neatly kept instead. The corners held framed a few photos of family members, along with other memorabilia from home. Leaning against the wall was his doctorate, which he hadn’t bothered to mount. He reached out, taking one of the small trinkets from the desk. It was an old cigar lighter from an even older car. He wasn’t a smoker, never had been. But it was his dads, and he thought there was some sentiment to keeping it around. He turned it over in his hands, admiring it to a degree, before setting it back down onto the desk. He brought his arms over his head for one last stretch, before heading out of his cabin. 

As the doctor entered the medbay, he turned his attention towards his favorite (and only) patient. Suki had never looked worse in her life, the bandages on her arm were in desperate need of replacement, caked and stiff with dried blood. Her face was ghostly pale, her eyes bloodshot red with dark bags forming under them. For almost a week Suki had been forcing herself to keep awake, scared to even blink. Doc had urged her to at least try and get some rest, much to no avail. Suki refused even the idea of it, frantically shouting rejections whenever it was brought up. Doc moved over to her bedside, a roll of fresh gauss in his hand. He let out a small sigh, keeping his relief to himself. He needed to put Suki under with anesthesia in order to change the wrappings, knowing that it would finally let her get some rest, even if only for a little bit. 

As Doc cut away the old rags, he couldn’t keep himself from wincing. It was a miracle that Suki survived with the injuries she had endured. Huge chunks of flesh and meat had been carved out of her arm, the superficialis and profundus tendons had endured heavy damage to the point of no repair. The edges around each of her lacerations had begun to dry a putrid orange color, the skin wrinkling and drying to itself. The blade that the assaulter had used had cut through all three layers, past skin and muscle, and chipping bone, evident by the many chips and small wedges in the marrow. There was no way her arm was recovering in this state, and as Doc weighed the options in his head, his mind started to wander in the direction of amputation. 

* * *

The majority of the crew had met in the canteen, the only exceptions being Suki, who was still bedridden, and Blizz, who insisted on being at her side. No one spoke up for what felt like an eternity, no one knowing where to even begin. The silence was broken as Penny spoke up, reading off the notes from her tablet.   
“The power h-has been on the fritz a bit as of late.. A-and a few items have gone missing from storage.. Some l-loose wiring and one of the jerrycans specifically..”   
Penny paused for a moment, before resuming.   
“On top of that, there’s been a bit of a smell coming from t-the vents, and airshaft B-2 is jammed up somehow..” Everyone took in the information in silence, trying to piece everything together.

“So, someone is stealing supplies, and the power’s acting up?” Doc raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. Penny nodded silently, feeling a bit embarrassed for even speaking up in the first place. Doc sighed, shaking his head a bit.   
“We shouldn’t be having these problems, why the hell isn’t Sampson fixing this kind of shit?”. As Doc finished his sentence, a bit of realization sank in among the crew, everyone looking around a bit for a moment in confusion before Doc spoke up once more.   
“....Where is Sampson..?”


	7. Discovery..

Doc stood in front of the main terminal in the security office, having insisted that he wanted to take a look at the footage himself, much to Miguel’s annoyance. He had spent the past two hours replaying the clip over and over again, but it just didn’t make any sense looking at it rationally, no matter how many times he watched it. Sampson and Troy are in the breaker room. Troy leaves, Sampson moves out of frame before disappearing. And that was it, no one else entered the room, and no one left.  
“This doesn't make any sense..” He muttered to himself, his eyes starting to redden from staring at the screen for so long. He had scanned every second, every frame, every corner of the recorded feed, but despite all this he kept drawing blanks. He had gone back and forth between the footage of the room itself, and the corridor outside of it. Neither had provided any sort of closure he was looking for. Though after watching it after the umpteenth time, he noticed a few frames of Sampson's hand gripping onto a bit of railing on the wall.  
“How does this help..” he sighed, restarting the feed from that day once again.

* * *

Miguel stood in the admin’s lounge of the ship, behind the room’s holo-terminal. He had been swearing up a storm for the past five or so minutes, struggling with the machine’s shoddy registering system. He had been swiping his ID card through the scanner over and over again, each time earning an error message from the machine.  
“Stupid piece of...ugh, joder!” he groaned out in annoyance, slamming his fist against the side of the card reader. He kept swiping, growing more and more frustrated with each failed attempt.

From outside the room, Penny could hear Miguel cursing like a sailor. It was unusual of the security officer to get so worked up, contrasting his usually laid back demeanor. Hell, she could hardly recognize him like this. She waited a brief moment for a pause in his swearing, before ducking into the room.  
“Ah, s-sir..?” she spoke up timidly, trying her best to get his attention. Miguel had thrown his card onto the floor out of frustration, before turning his gaze to her. She had caught him a bit off guard, as he struggled to regain his composure for her.  
“a-ah , I didn’t see you there, Penelope..” he gave a nervous chuckle, his face a tad red from embarrassment.  
“Anyways, what have you got for me?” he asked, in an attempt to change the subject.  
“There’s s-something you need to see, sir..”

* * *

  
“Do you think it could be-”   
“I-it might..” The two stared at the air duct, words failing to come to them. Penny was fidgeting where she stood, while Miguel dug his fingers into his palms.   
“Where exactly does this vent lead..” Miguel asked after what felt like an eternity, not breaking eye contact with the puddle of vermilion at his feet.   
“T-this is duct B-2, it l-leads back to the breaker room, sir..” Penny answered meekly, staring down at her feet rather than the pooling blood, nervousness welling up inside her. She had put it all together in her head well before she had fetched him, realizing exactly what the smell was, or what the jam in the duct system had been caused by. She knew there was no denying it, she just didn't want to be the one to say it.  


“...Go get Doc, bring him to me in the breaker room..” Miguel said solemnly, he knew what it was, he knew what it HAD to be, but that didn’t stop him from praying for poor Sampson’s well-being.   
“Y-yes sir..” Penny nodded, briskly walking off towards the medbay to fetch the doctor. Miguel let it all sink in, taking a deep breath, before he made his way to the breaker room. His pace was slow, he was in no rush to get there, lest find something in the vent's that he was still trying to deny. His gaze was locked ahead of him, his teeth grit so tight his jaw started to hurt. Whatever it was in the vents, he didn't want to be the one to announce it to his crewmates.


	8. Wired.

The smell of cadaverine and putrescine hit the doctor like a punch to the gut, his face beginning to feel hot and eyes starting to water. It smelled like the plague, and the breaker room was filled with it. Doc, Miguel, and Penny all stood around the vent shaft, the rancid, pungent smell of decay wafting up through the vent's grating. Miguel gagged hard as he approached the duct, forcing himself to keep his lunch down as he stared down at it. Penny was a little worse off, forcing her eyes shut and holding her breath when she could. Doc had smelled worse, an internship at a morgue is a vivid experience, but it was awful nonetheless.

“So...who’s going in there…” Doc asked the question that was on everyone’s mind. Penny immediately took a step back, and neither Miguel nor Doc were about to force her to do it. Miguel swallowed nervously, he wasn’t about to offer himself up to crawl into the duct with what was likely a dead body, but there wasn’t really much of a choice.  
“W-would you...like to do the honors..?” Miguel asked, not so sure of himself as he spoke. Doc narrowed his eyes, giving him a bit of a judgemental look, before stepping back as well.  
“This one is all yours..” he said, his tone completely unsympathetic.  
“Of course it is…” Miguel muttered solemnly.

* * *

Miguel had gone off to fetch his helmet, knowing he would probably off himself if he had to be cramped in the ducts with that horrendous smell. He had forced himself down into the vents, which he struggled to do so initially. His shoulders were on the broader side, and the entrance was a bit smaller than the ducts itself, so it was a bit of an annoyance trying to fit himself in there. Though once inside, the air vents were a bit wider, making it slightly easier to traverse. He crawled on all fours through the duct system, navigating the narrow passage to the best of his abilities, flashlight in hand. And as he rounded a corner, he came across his worst fear. 

The blades of the fan in front of him had been in fact jammed, just like Penny had informed him. Though with what, was what really caught him off guard. The decomposing corpse of his crew-mate. He could barely recognize who laid before him, the body having been brutally maimed. The body was on it’s back, the lifeless head facing Miguel. The skin had started to rot and mold, practically melting away from the bone after being left there for an entire week. The eyes were dried out, completely lifeless, on having snapped it’s optic cord and dislodged itself from the socket. Sampson’s mouth had been sewn shut. It was a crude, bloody job, and Miguel could see it was done with a familiar, colorful wiring, much like the one Penny had reported missing. 

Miguel’s heart pounded in his head, his temples throbbing, his ears ringing. The duct suddenly felt so much smaller, so claustrophobic, he was struggling to breath. From the neck down, ran two even cuts, perfectly parallel all the way down to Sampson’s waist. His suit had been roughly ripped open, to reveal his chest and stomach having been torn apart in a cannibalistic, visceral manner. His ribs jutted out of place, some broken and fractured, some simply wedged out of the way. His internals were barely recognizable, his lungs and kidney were mangled, maimed, torn apart and scattered all over the duct’s walls now painted a dried red. 

The fan blades had gotten caught on his pelvis, almost completely slicing his body in half from the waist down. Sampson’s entrails and intestines had been strung, tugged out, now wrapped and knotted around the wedged blades of the fan. His stomach had been gashed open countless times, acidic slop having pooled into his open cavity. Miguel looked in abject horror, practically trembling as he took it all in. Sampson’s arms had been forced to his side, snapped and contorted in ways the joints weren't meant to fold. The skin around the elbow having been ripped apart, the bone visible. 

Miguel was hyperventilating, his visor clouded by the heat of his heavy breathing. The way the body had been maimed was inhuman, it looked like he had been ravaged by a beast. He shakily reached out, he knew he had to remove the body, but he just couldn’t force his body to move. He knelt there, shaking where he stood for what felt like ages, staring at the corpse. He took Sampson’s shoulders with uneasy hands, and pulled ever so slightly to try and dislodge the body. With the faintest movement, the pelvic bones jamming the fan blades were dislodged, causing the fans to violently spin and run. The blades eviscerated the entrails wrapped around them, blending them all together and spraying a mess of carrion and gore all over the duct’s walls. The mess splattered all over Miguel’s suit, completely obscuring his visor with vermilion and guts. The blades whirred away, Miguel watching in horror before vomiting in his helmet. 

* * *

“Oh look! The v-vent isn’t jammed anymore..!” Penny chirped up, unaware of what Miguel had done.. 


	9. Discussion..

It had taken days to clean out Sampson’s splattered remains from the vents. The process was gratuitous and drawn out, the sanitization of the ducts taking even longer after the initial removal. When all was said and done, the Crew had stowed Sampson’s remains within a body bag from storage. They held a brief wake for their fallen crew mate, trying to distract themselves from the impending threat of some maniac aboard their vessel. The funeral was a solemn event, a few spoke up to say some words for Sampson, but many stayed silent. At the end of it all, the body was ejected from the ship’s airlock into the cold void of space. And with that, another meeting was held. 

“We can’t overlook this any longer..” Miguel spoke first. He was visibly shaken as he spoke, his body tense, sweat dripping down his forehead. He had gotten the worst of it all, having to make the repeated trips to clean out Sampson’s remains from the air ducts.   
“There’s something or someone aboard this ship, and we need to deal with it as soon as we can.”. Everyone else held their tongue, not knowing how to respond to all of this. The past few weeks had gone by so quickly, the crew was barely able to comprehend everything that was going on. 

“The going theory is that it’s a stowaway, but..” Miguel paused for a moment.   
“..it doesn't rule out the possibility of it being one of us.”. Another wave of silence from the crew, before it was broken by the doctor.   
“Whoever we’re dealing with clearly knows what they’re doing. Having the force to cut cleanly into Suki’s arm, knowing to sew Sampson’s mouth shut. That kind of strength alone rules out Bile and Penny almost immediately. Blizz has been with me the entire time, and-” The doctor was cut off as Miguel spoke once more.

“I’m not asking you to go full detective on this right now, Doc..” Miguel spoke, narrowing his gaze.   
“We don’t have enough to accuse anyone blindly. And we can’t risk voting anyone out only to leave one less person for this madman to pick off..”. As much as Doc hated to admit it, Miguel was right. They didn’t have the luxury to freely vote someone off just yet.   
“Our best bet is to stick together. Keep an eye out for at least one other person” Miguel continued, starting to gesture to others around the table. “Heather and I will keep in contact, seeing as we’re right across from each other. Doc and Blizz will do the same as well as keep an eye on Suki. Bile and Troy will keep in touch, and Penny will stay in Security with me.”. The crew spent a brief moment sorting out the groups, two of three, one of two. When all was said and done, everyone slowly made their way back to their tasks in their assigned groups. Miguel chewed his bottom lip, desperately hoping the new system would work. 

* * *

Heather wiped her forehead with the back of her gloved hand, wheeling out from underneath the main reactor on her wheeled mechanic’s creeper. She slowly stood up, arching and stretching her back with her hands on her hips. Tending to the reactor and engines was one of the most physically demanding tasks on board the Skeld, leaving Heather more exhausted and sore rather than anything else. She turned around after her brief stretch, reading over the reactor and engine statuses. 

“Miguel, i’m gonna go do a quick refueling run. Watch me on cams.!” Heather called out from the hallway, ducking her head into the doorway of the security office. Her confirmation was a thumbs up from him, before she ducked off towards storage. It was relatively close, just down the hall and to the left, so she hoped it wouldn’t take her too long. As she arrived into the storage bay, she quickened her pace a bit so as to not waste too much time. Ducking past a few shelves of supplies to try and find the fuel reserves. Navigating through the dozens of crates and shelving units was routine at this point, so she knew exactly where to go. 

As Heather came up to the reserve basin, something odd stuck out to her. The jerrycan she usually used had been moved, placed off to the side instead of in front of the basin. Odd, she thought to herself, reaching over to take it. But as she did, she noticed something hidden behind two large storage containers. She set the gascan aside, grabbing the edge of one of the containers to move it aside, and what could only be described as horror quickly filled her.

Behind the containers stood hidden two unused space suits, both a scuffed up white. One was absolutely caked with dried blood, while the other was mostly clean. But the fact of the matter is, both had clearly been moved as of recent. She turned around to run to Security to tell Miguel, but was cut off as the storage bay’s doors slammed shut in her face. The light’s cut out for a moment, darkness surrounding Heather as she frantically glanced around. After a few seconds, a dull red light began to flash in the room, indicating that the back up power reserves were on, and as the room illuminated once more, she saw a figure standing right before her. The stranger was wearing the clean white suit she had just seen before, and before she had time to react, Heather’s head was bludgeoned with a length of steel pipe, knocking her out cold.. 


	10. Burnt.

Miguel has been sitting around in security with Penny for most of the afternoon. The day had been rather uneventful, thankfully, Miguel making sure to keep a keen eye on the security feed. Once Heather had ducked in, informing Miguel of the quick run to storage she had to make, his attention shifted towards the lower left quadrant of the screen. Keeping his gaze locked on the storage bay, as well as the surrounding hallways. He watched as she entered the room, heading towards the back corner, before the display cut out completely.

“Penny, what’s going on?” Miguel quickly turned to her, a look of confusion and worry in his eyes as the monitor’s screen turned black. Penny opened her mouth to speak, before the two were enveloped in darkness, the room’s power cutting out. Penny’s tablet illuminated her face as she turned it on, quickly answering Miguel. “The p-power has cut out completely, all across the ship.. B-backup reserves are coming online now..” as she spoke, the red lights began to ominously flash, lighting up the room crimson for the two. Miguel looked at her, fear in his eyes. “We need to get to storage. Right now.”

* * *

Heather was stirred awake as she felt something cold splash against her face, jolting upright. Her temples were throbbing as she felt a bruised pain on the side of her skull, contrasted by the cold liquid running down her head, her hair soaked and damp. She breathed heavily, only making her panic more as she realized what she had been doused with, the intense smell of gasoline in the air. She tried to move, but as she did, she realized both her ankles and wrists had been bound, leaving her helplessly slumped against the wall. The sound of approaching footsteps caught her attention as she looked up, the figure in white stood before her. The stranger slowly reached up, taking their helmet in their hands, and slowly removed it, causing Heather’s eyes to grow wide with shock. 

“You..” she said shakily, a bit of a growl in her voice as she glared daggers. She dug her fingers into her palms, gritting her teeth together as a deep seeded hatred swelled within her. The figure gave a small smile, their eyes blank and emotionless.  
“How could you...y-you were our friend, our family..!” she yelled out harshly, her voice rich with accusation. Her anger earned a chuckle from her assailant, who leaned in close to her face.  
“You fail to see the bigger picture here, Heather dearest…” he spoke coldly, his voice had an edge to it that made her freeze up completely. Shock and terror ran down her spine as she failed to command her body to move. She stared helplessly as the figure spoke again.  
“But don’t worry, i’ll be more than happy to share it with you..” they spoke playfully.  
“W-what are you going to do to me..?” Heather asked shakily, terrified of the individual’s intentions. Earning yet another chuckle from them. 

“I don’t think you should be worried about what i’m going to do to you... I think the real question you should be asking is what i’m going to do after i'm done with you..”. The figure reached to the side, picking up the jerry can that Heather had originally been looking for. They lifted it over her head, pouring the contents all over her. She shook in her seat as she felt it flow down into her suit, pooling at the bottom of her legs as it thoroughly doused her body.  
“P-please, don’t do this..!” she began frantically pleading. The figure shook their head, reaching into their pocket.  
“You should be saving your energy, dear. This is going to hurt, alot..” They said as they pulled out a familiar looking cigar lighter, clicking the button on the back. The metal spirals slowly began to glow a vibrant hot red, Heather shaking her head frantically as the figure reached over her. They gave one last cold smile, before dropping it down the neck of her suit..

Heather's body erupted into flame the second the lighter made contact. she let out a harrowing scream as the flames engulfed her. The space suit was flame retardant, meaning it wouldn't burn, however that only made things worse as it contained the fire within itself. Heather writhed around frantically, screaming louder and louder. Her clothes had caught quickly, her hair fallowing suit. The smell of burning flesh filled the room as her skin bubbled and burst, the fire eating away at her layer by layer. Her blood boiled, her skin feeling as if it were melting as the fire grew stronger. the pain was unbearable as her entire body burned away, her skin quickly burning away as the fire began to envelope her innards, frying her insides. Her organs sizzled and popped, oozing bubbling flesh being charred and roasted by the heat. After minuets of the agonizingly torturous execution, Heather's fried corpse fell over, her lifeless body burning away within the confines of her suit.


	11. Accusation..

Miguel had been ramming himself over and over again against the door to the storage bay, meanwhile Penny had been aimlessly trying to restore the ship’s power from the breaker room, just around the corner. Miguel gripped tightly around the seal of the door, desperately trying to pull it open to no avail. After what felt like an eternity, Penny had been able to restore the power through sheer trial and error. Miguel rushed into the storage bay, calling out the name of his crewmate. As his eyes settled to the wall of the room, he looked over in horror at the remains of the ship’s engineer. 

The suit laid slumped over on it’s side, smoke billowing out of the neck. The cracking and popping of sizzling flesh could still be heard from inside the material. Heather’s disfigured and burnt face was pressed against the floor, almost all of the skin having burnt up, revealing charred muscle and bone. Her eyes had shriveled and dried from the heat, her scalp completely burned away. The smell was absolutely putrid, causing Miguel to gag hard as soon as he entered the room. Frantically rushing over to the wall, he tore the room’s fire extinguisher from it’s mount, denying the fact that his crew-mate was clearly gone, convincing himself he could still do something.

As Miguel snuffed out the last of the flames, he looked down at Heather’s charred remains. Her face was completely unrecognizable, horribly deformed from the burns. Her only identifiable feature was her formerly bright pink suit, now mostly burned black. Miguel bit his lower lip hard, hard enough that it started to bleed as he tried not to break, not to crack from what he had just seen. He turned around, yelling for Penny to get the others. His only answer being the sound of her footsteps running down the metal corridor. He turned back to Heather’s body, grief weighing him down as he set the fire extinguisher down. In just two weeks, he had lost two friends.

* * *

It was an all too familiar scene. The crew all gathered around the rounded table within the ship’s canteen, now down another member. They had done a similar service with Heather as they had with Sampson, ejecting her body from the airlock in the confines of a sleek, black bag. None of this felt right, no one knew what to say, no one knew what to do next. Doc was the first to speak up this time, his tone solemn and full of worry. Everyone’s heads perked up as he spoke, tuning in to what he had to say. 

“We can’t just sit around again, someone in this room has been going around killing each of us off one by one, we need to do something.” He spoke, Miguel grit his teeth, digging his nails into his palm underneath the table.   
“You’re one to talk, all you’ve done is bitch and complain about everyone else…”   
“What was that?” Doc raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms across his chest.   
“How do we know it’s not you, all you’ve done is complain about everyone else..” Miguel spoke coldly, glaring at the Doctor. Doc scoffed, looking to the side. 

“You’ve got to be kidding, right? Why would I be taking care of Suki if I'm the one going around attacking people..”. Miguel’s gaze narrowed.   
“Forming an alibi maybe, i’m calling bullshit..” Blizz had sat up, opening her mouth to defend the doctor, but she was quickly cut off by Miguel as he stood up.   
“Besides, I found this inside of Heather’s suit..” He growled, holding up the slightly burnt cigarette lighter in his hand. Everyone fell silent, not even Blizz could speak up to defend Doc. How could she? It was something that clearly belonged to him, found at the scene of the crime. Doc fell silent, sweat starting to beat down his face. 

“H-how did that..” he stammered. He knew it was his, for sure, but he had never taken it out of his room.   
“S-someone must have..”   
“Must have what? Swiped it out of your room to frame you? Seems awfully convenient..” Miguel spat, gripping the lighter in his fist.   
“All you’ve done is bitch at me about doing my job, all so you can shoulder the blame and avoid suspicion..”. Everyone turned to Doc, some moving away from him a bit. His eyes filled with fear.   
“Y-you don’t seriously believe that, right?!” he asked frantically, no one responded. Everyone avoided eye contact with him, except for Miguel, staring the Doctor down.   
“T-this is absurd..!” he stuttered. The only thing he received was silence, before Miguel spoke up again.   
“Bile...grab him..”


	12. Judgement.

Doc felt as his arms were taken by the wrists, wrenched behind his back painfully. He let out a groan of discomfort as Bile pinned his arms behind his back with little effort. The Doctor was stammering like a madman, trying to find the right words to defend himself before a realization hit him. His eyes went wide, his moving stopped. Bile was strong, strong enough to apprehend him with no effort. Why, why was this so easy for him. The strength felt inhuman as the Doctor struggled against his grip, to no avail.  
“W-wait, you’re making a mistake..!” He shouted, his crewmates watching him writhe around in Bile’s grip. 

Miguel moved from the table to the door, a good deal of the crew following suit.  
“Take him to the airlock..” Miguel said solemnly, which only made the Doctor more frantic.  
“I-it’s not me! It’s Bile, it has to be!” he yelled out, trying to shake out of Bile’s grip to no avail, Bile slowly started dragging the doctor towards the door, following along with Miguel’s directions. Doc kicked his legs at the ground, desperately trying to break free. Bile’s grip only tightened, causing the doctor to let out a pained gasp in response. The crew continued to make their way towards the ship’s airlock. Doc’s frantic pleading fell on deaf ears, even Blizz was avoiding eye contact. 

Bile had dragged Doc in front of the airlock doors, Miguel standing in front of the doctor. His face was colored with a combination of emotions, fear, disgust, hate, worry, grief. Miguel reached over, opening the first door of the airlock, silent as everyone else was.  
“M-Miguel, please! Don’t do this..!” Doc pleaded, looking up at him. Miguel didn’t respond, only angering the doctor.  
“You idiot, you have no idea what you’re doing!” He spoke again, this time finally getting to the security officer. Miguel turned, bearing his teeth as he struck the Doctor square in the nose. He felt a crack give under his knuckles, blood gushing down the doctor's lip, his eyes tearing up. Doc cried out in pain as Miguel stood before him, fuming mad. 

“Two people are dead because of you! One gravely injured! And you try to turn this around on me?!” Miguel yelled, his voice filled with anger and pain.  
“You should consider the airlock a favor! Otherwise i’d beat you to death myself!” Miguel screamed, tears welling in his eyes as he let out everything he had been holding in for the past few weeks. Doc sniffled, trying to clear the blood from his nose.  
“I-I’t wasn't me..!” he stammered out shakily, Miguel visibly holding himself back from striking him again. He grabbed the doctor by the collar of his suit, throwing him to the floor past the airlock doors. Doc tried to scramble up, but the heavy metal door slammed in his face, causing him to flinch. He pounded on the glass, pleading to a group that couldn’t hear him. He watched Miguel take a deep breath, before pressing a button on the nearby console. The airlock doors opened, and Doc was sucked into the vacuum of space. His screams became silent as his body began to freeze over. The blood that had been dripping from his nose froze over immediately, as well as the rest of the blood in his body. Doc went into shock, feeling his lungs collapse on themselves, paralyzed as he slowly froze to death. the agonizing pain was all he felt before he died. 

The crew watched solemnly, before the airlock doors slammed shut once more. Miguel looked down at the floor, struggling to come to terms with what he had just done. He tried to justify it in his head, but he just couldn't. he sighed, before turning to the rest of the crew.  
“Everyone back to work, It’s over..”. No one said anything, all heading off their own ways. Miguel turned to Bile before he left, clasping a hand over his shoulder. "I'm...sorry I had you do that.." Miguel spoke, earning nothing but a small nod from Bile, who made his way back to the shield generators. Miguel was alone, the last one standing at the airlock doors. He put his hand up to the glass, regret filling him. "For the love of god, I hope it was you.." He said, knowing Doc wouldn't hear him. and with that, he made his leave.. 


	13. Guilt..

Blizz had been rather silent since the events of the previous week. The relationship between her and the doctor had always been a sour, bitter, insult ridden one. But now that he was gone, everything felt off to her. She had taken up the responsibility of tending to Suki, a task she felt she was no more qualified for than anyone else. Blizz could never understand how Doc had been able to perform and operate relatively stress free, she felt as though even doing something as simple as taking a blood sample was some nerve wracking feat. So when the time came for her to change Suki’s gauze wrappings, she practically threw up on the spot. 

Suki’s arm had grown worse, her fingertips having started turning black from a lack of blood flow. Luckily nothing seemed to have gotten infected, the environment of the Ship being relatively clean, however she could see bits of black and orange starting to form within areas Blizz didn’t even know the name of. She only stressed more, eventually bringing her concerns to that of Miguel. The Security officer was empathetic, but informed her that she was the best suited for the job, seeing that she had worked at the doctor’s side for so long. Blizz had to agree, reluctantly so, she had watched over the doctor’s work countless times, and had admittedly picked up a thing or two from him. 

MIguel eventually suggested trying to find Doc’s old reports and logs, with the hope that she might be able to pick them apart for any useful information. Blizz silently shunned herself for not having thought of doing so sooner, and had gone off to scrounge around the med-bay, searching for any sort of record oro report, much to no avail. Frustrated, Blizz decided to instead explore Doc's private quarters. She silently hoped that she would be able to find something, anything that might help. It pained her to see her friend in so much agony, to suffer so much, the feeling of helplessness had only grown day by day. Blizz shook her head, balling her hands into tight fists. She was going to help Suki, she needed to.

As the door slid open into the cabin, Blizz ducked her head into the doctor's former room. She felt a slight pang in her chest, she hated to admit it, but she missed the bastard. But he was a murderer, right? There's no reason to miss someone like him. She chewed her lower lip, moving past the doorway and into the cabin’s interior. She began at his desk, scanning her eyes briefly over the contents to try and look for anything that stood out. No dice, she cursed under her breath and reached for the drawer, pulling it open to look inside. She cursed again as she failed to find much, however something other than the documents stood out to her. The contents of the drawer were a mess, completely unorganized, out of place, some things obviously missing. She stared at the drawer. Something didn’t make sense about this, Doc was much more neat and methodical than this, there’s no way he would let his desk get this messy, unless.. 

Blizz quickly ducked out of Doc’s cabin, instead briskly heading to her own. She entered, making sure the door closed behind her as she pulled open her own desk. Same story, folders, papers, books, everything was shifted around and scrambled about. She stared in confusion. Doc was already dead, so there’s no way he could’ve done something like this, right? Confusion was making a place for itself in the back of Blizz’s mind as she began to visit every one of the cabins belonging to her crewmates. In Miguel’s, everything was rummaged through, Penny’s? Same story. Every one of her crewmate’s rooms had clearly been searched, but by who? 

At last she came to Bile’s room, letting herself inside. Bile didn’t have a desk, instead a large dresser stood in its place, he really hadn’t brought much with him. She opened the top drawer, and much to her confusion, all of his clothes were still neatly stowed away. She stared for a moment, trying to piece it all together. She closed the drawer, reaching to open the second. Same story, everything neatly tucked away, folded in order. Something started to bother her, some nameless fear in her stomach. She closed the second drawer, reaching to pull open the third. It was stuck, jammed a bit, and she grunted as she tugged hard to pull it open. There was a slight cracking noise from the dresser as she fell backwards, tugging the drawer right open with a loud ‘thud’. And that’s when it hit her. The smell, it was awful. It was pungent, vile. She held her nose to stop herself from throwing up, slowly getting to her feet and looking inside. She regretted doing so immediately, as she finally realized what was in the drawer. Tucked inside was a body, the figure having been dismembered, limbs crudely cut off from the torso and at the joints, the body parts folded neatly to fit in the tight confines of the dresser. It took her a moment to realize who it was, but the tufts of dirty blonde hair at the top of the slowly decaying scalp answered that question.

It was a body she had only ever seen once, on her very first day aboard the Skeld. Someone she had seen just once and never again. Bile had only gone one day showing his face to the crew, before hiding it away behind the tinted black visor for the months the crew had been aboard the ship. She could only vaguely remember his facial features, most of which had decayed already, but the hair, she recognized it immediately. She stared at the body for longer than she would like to admit, the screams and pleads of the doctor replaying themselves in her head as a shaky realization hit her. Her mouth went agape in shock, her hands rushing up to meet her as a quiet gasp echoed in the room. Doc was telling the truth. She had watched an innocent man be thrown into the cold, harsh void of space, and did nothing. Her eyes began to tear up, the grief overtaking the impending dread of the situation for a brief moment. She stood there in mourning, taking it all in. Though her trance was broken, as the sound of the metal door sliding open echoed in from behind..


End file.
